The present disclosure relates generally to weather radar systems. More particularly, the present application relates to a weather radar system that displays the presence of weather on a screen.
Conventionally, pilots use weather radar systems to detect and avoid hazardous weather. The radar return signals are processed to provide graphical images to a radar display, for example, a display located in the cockpit of the aircraft. The radar display is typically a color multi-function display (MFD) unit that provides color graphical images to represent the severity and location of weather. Some aircraft weather radar systems also include other hazard detection systems such as a turbulence detection system or a windshear detection system. These types of systems can also provide indications of the presence of turbulence or other hazards.
Many modern weather radar systems utilize a number of radar scanning techniques in order to present different views of detected weather to a display. For example, a plan view may be presented to a cockpit display allowing a pilot to determine the range and location of weather relative to the aircraft. A pilot can use this information to determine a course that avoids the weather. In addition, radar sweeps in the vertical direction can be used to generate a vertical profile view, e.g., a vertical “slice” of the weather on the display. Such profiles allow pilots to determine the height and the severity of the weather. This information may be used by pilots, for example, to determine an appropriate altitude to fly over the weather.
In some weather radar systems, a pilot may be able to select a direction on the displayed plan view from which to generate a vertical profile view. However, as the aircraft and the weather are both moving, the selected direction may soon lose its correlation to the selected area of focus. This can lead to erratic vertical displays and can force a pilot to frequently adjust the selected direction. Applicants have discovered that there may be a need for a weather radar system that automatically adjusts the direction from which the vertical profile is displayed based on the motion of the aircraft and/or the motion of the weather.